One technique for extracting oil from an oil bearing formation involves the drilling of a well into the formation and pumping the oil out. In many cases, however, the oil is too viscous under the formation conditions, and thus adequate oil flow rates cannot be achieved with this technique.
Enhanced oil recovery techniques have been developed to improve the oil flow rate. One example of an enhanced oil recovery technique involves the injection of steam into the oil bearing formation. The steam increases the temperature of the oil and reduces the oil's viscosity. The oil can then be pumped from the oil bearing formation with an improved oil flow rate. However, some formations are not receptive to steam injection. For example, in some reservoirs, the injected steam will not evenly penetrate the oil bearing formation, but may instead channel along the well casing or travel along more easily fractured strata or higher permeability zone or zones. As a result, only a small portion of the oil bearing formation is heated with steam.